CUSTOMER AGREEMENT

By and between Ocean Secretarial Services, a UK company, registered in England and the Customer.

Reference herein to Customer shall be to a company, a business partnership, individual or sole trader to which Ocean Secretarial Services directly provides its products and services and where it is the recipient of any invoice resulting from its purchase of products and services from Ocean Secretarial Services.

The parties agree to the following, which shall apply during the term of this Customer Agreement. This Customer Agreement covers all products and services Customer has purchased or ordered, whether for its own use or for the use of its customers.

1. Order acceptance

1.1 All orders are subject to acceptance by Ocean Secretarial Services.

1.2 An order will only be deemed accepted by Ocean Secretarial Services if it gives confirmation to such effect to the Customer.

1.3 A written estimate or quotation will be provided.  Signed acceptance of such is required before any work is undertaken.  

1.4 Ocean Secretarial Services may in its absolute discretion refuse to accept any order.

2. Payment for Services

2.1 Payment terms and conditions shall apply to each assignment.

2.2 Unless otherwise agreed, a deposit of 25% is required on all project plan assignments in advance of work commencing, agreed stage payments during the project, with the balance being due and payable on receipt of completed work

2.3 Hourly services are invoiced monthly or weekly and are due and payable within 7 days of date of invoice.

2.4 Retainer agreements are invoiced fortnightly in advance of each calendar month, and are due and payable prior to work commencing.

2.5 Payment must be received in UK £ Sterling and can be made by cheque drawn on a UK Bank Account payable to Ocean Secretarial Services.  Payments can also be made by bank transfer - BACS or CHAPS with the client being responsible for any bank charges incurred. Credit card payments will not be accepted. All invoices will be submitted in £ sterling.

2.6 In the event that any amount remains unpaid after the period of time specified on the invoice, Ocean Secretarial Services reserves the right (in addition to its right to claim for payment) to discontinue, withhold or suspend products or services to the Customer and/or its customers to whom such unpaid amounts relate.

2.7 We reserve the right to charge interest on overdue amounts at the rate of 3% per month on the outstanding balance from the date of the invoice until the date of payment.

2.8 All bank charges to Ocean Secretarial Services resulting from cheques returned unpaid will be borne by the client.

3. Refunds

3.1 No refund shall be applicable once transcription of any work has commenced, unless Ocean Secretarial Services does not complete the contract or Ocean Secretarial Services uses its discretion to refund if the Customer gives notice that they do not wish to continue with the service.

4. Use of Services

4.1 Ocean Secretarial Services products and services may only be used for lawful purposes.

4.2 Ocean Secretarial Services is not responsible for the end use by the customer of any document produced. Clients are solely responsible for its appropriate and lawful use.

4.3 The Customer accepts that Ocean Secretarial Services does not accept any liability to the Customer and/or its customers from any loss or damage however caused (even if Ocean Secretarial Services had been advised of a possibility of such damage arising) resulting from transcriptions provided by or to the Customer and/or its customers using Ocean Secretarial Services products or services. Furthermore, Ocean Secretarial Services does not accept any liability for errors or incorrect transcription and the Customer agrees that it is the Customers' responsibility to check transcription work carefully and ensure that no such errors exist.

5. Supply of Service

5.1 Ocean Secretarial Services' liability to Customer arising from defective products or services is limited (save in respect of death or personal injury) to the amount payable by Customer to Ocean Secretarial Services under this Customer Agreement.

5.2 Ocean Secretarial Services will always endeavour to supply full service but does not accept liability for Ocean Secretarial Services' failure to supply services caused by any external influences including acts of God, fire, governmental acts, breaks in continuity of electricity supply or telecom link, accident or any other cause beyond Ocean Secretarial Services' control.

5.3 Ocean Secretarial Services does not accept liability to Customer for direct or consequential economic loss (including loss of profit or business).

6. Confidentiality

6.1 Ocean Secretarial Services acknowledges that by reason of its relationship with the Customer, it may have access to certain information and materials relating to the Customer's business, products, services, customers and marketing strategies that is confidential and of substantial value to the Customer, which value would be impaired if such information were disclosed to third parties.

6.2 Ocean Secretarial Services undertakes not to use in any way for its own account nor for the account of any third party, nor disclose to any third party such information or materials revealed to it by the Customer. No information provided by way of transcription will be stored on computers and any transcribed work and sound files shall be deleted upon instruction in writing from the Customer.

7. Transferral of Rights and Obligations

7.1 Customer's rights and obligations under this Customer Agreement may not be enjoyed by a third party or transferred or assigned directly or indirectly without the prior written consent of Ocean Secretarial Services.

7.2 If Customer sells any of Ocean Secretarial Services' products or services to a third party it shall do so on terms which are not inconsistent with this Customer Agreement; and such Customer shall maintain adequate insurance as would normally be covered by a person carrying on in the same type of business as the Customer.

8. Data Protection Act

8.1 Ocean Secretarial Services reserves the right to hold information relevant to Customer in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998.

8.2 This information may be stored in a computerised database and/or in paper format, which will be treated in the strictest of confidence and will only be used internally by Ocean Secretarial Services, unless otherwise stated.

8.3 Back-up copies of client files will only be kept for a period of six-months after that time they will be deleted.

9. Disputes

9.1 The parties shall attempt to resolve all disputes arising out of this agreement in a spirit of co-operation without formal proceedings.

9.2 Any dispute which can not be resolved (other than the collection of monies due on unpaid invoices) shall be subject to the arbitration of a single arbitrator appointed by agreement between the parties.

10. Termination of Customer Agreement

10.1 Ocean Secretarial Services is entitled to terminate this Customer Agreement on giving notice to such effect if the Customer breeches any of its terms or conditions. In this circumstance, the Customer will forfeit the return of any advance payments and Ocean Secretarial Services' products and services will be wholly withdrawn.

10.2 The Customer may also terminate this Customer Agreement on giving at least thirty (10) days written notice prior to renewal.

11. Waiver

11.1 No failure or delay by either party in exercising any of its rights under this Customer Agreement shall be deemed to be a waiver of that right, and no waiver by either party of a breach of any provision of this Customer Agreement shall be deemed to be a waiver of any subsequent breech of the same.

12. Guarantee of Items Sent

12.1 We cannot guarantee or insure any tapes or CDs sent to us. The tapes or CDs remain the Customer's responsibility and we cannot accept liability for any loss or damage, no matter how caused whilst the tapes or CDs are in our possession, in transit, or whilst you are transporting them to us. We strongly recommend that you keep a copy.